Start em or sit em? Fantasy football start or sit decisions can be excruciating. While it feels great to make the right call and cruise to fantasy glory, it hurts just as much when you have someone erupt while on your bench. You can use our Who Should I Start? tool to gauge advice from fantasy football experts as you make your lineup decisions. And you can also sync your fantasy football league for free using our My Playbook tool for custom advice, rankings and analysis.
Let’s take a look at a few polarizing players and what fantasy football expert Derek Brown advises. And you can find all of DBro’s fantasy football outlook in this week’s fantasy football primer.
- Waiver Wire Picks
- Weekly Fantasy Football Expert Rankings
- Fantasy Football Start/Sit Advice
- Fantasy Football Trade Tools
Fantasy Football Start em, Sit em Lineup Advice: Week 12
McConkey is the WR32 in fantasy points per game, with WR3 or higher weekly finishes in five of his last seven games. He has a 22.2% target share, 2.44 YPRR, and a 26.6% first-read share. Since Week 4, he has four red zone targets. Since Week 9, Baltimore has moved to heavy two high usage with the seventh-highest rate (58%) in the NFL. Against two high, McConkey leads the team with a 21.3% target share with 1.72 YPRR and a stellar 25% first-read share. He should roast a Baltimore secondary that has allowed the eighth-most receiving yards per game and the tenth-most fantasy points per game to slot receivers.
There’s no slowing down or stopping Downs’ breakout season as the WR17 in fantasy points per game. Downs has finished outside the top 31 fantasy wide receivers in weekly scoring only once since Week 4. He is 11th in red zone targets among wide receivers. Downs has a 24.9% target share, 2.58 YPRR, and a 31.4% first-read share. Since Week 6, the Lions have had the fourth-highest rate of single-high (60%). Against single-high, Downs has seen his YPRR increase to 2.76. Downs should have another banner day against a secondary that, since Week 6, has allowed the tenth-most fantasy points per game and the most receiving yards per game to slot receivers.
Smith continues his volume-fueled fantasy assault as the QB12 in fantasy points per game. Smith is third in passing attempts and first in passing yards per game. His per-dropback metrics aren’t nearly as kind. Among 39 qualifying quarterbacks, he ranks 16th in yards per attempt, 25th in passer rating, and 24th in fantasy points per dropback. Smith faces what has become a tough Arizona pass defense. Since Week 6, Arizona has kept quarterbacks in check with the fifth-lowest yards per attempt, the sixth-lowest CPOE, and the sixth-fewest passing touchdowns allowed. Smith will still sit somewhere around the low-end QB1 territory with his extreme passing volume but don’t expect an otherworldly or efficient performance.
Subscribe: YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | iHeart | Castbox | Amazon Music | Podcast Addict | TuneIn
If you want to dive deeper into fantasy football, check out our award-winning slate of Fantasy Football Tools as you navigate your season. From our Start/Sit Assistant – which provides your optimal lineup based on accurate consensus projections – to our Waiver Wire Assistant, which allows you to quickly see which available players will improve your team and how much – we’ve got you covered this fantasy football season.